There are things he does alone, and things that he alone does.

Jacques Anquetil was a cyclist with an aristocratic demeanor and a relaxed attitude to rules and morals. His womanising and frank admissions of doping appalled 1960s French society, even as his five Tour de France wins enthralled it.

Paul Fournel was besotted with him from the start ("Too young to understand, I was nevertheless old enough to admire") and followed Anquetil's career with the passion of a fan and the eye of a poet.

In this stunningly original biography of a complex and divisive character, Fournel - author of the seminal Vélo (or Need for the Bike)- blends the story of Anquetil's life with scenes from his own, to create a classic of cycling literature.

Skateboarding originated in California, and early board designs were simple. By the 1980s, skateboarding had reached all corners of the country and was becoming popular worldwide, as kids adopted the culture and took over public spaces to practice the sport. This book highlights the work of forty-four artists who exemplify the seemingly boundless evolution of skateboard design.

All sports have their quirks and rituals, but cycling has more than most. As the inexorable rise of the bicycle continues, many casual cyclists are moving into a more serious brand of cycling - riding in road races, groups or cycle clubs. And stumbling straight into a minefield of form and etiquette that those who have grown up in the clubs are well acquainted with. From how to choose the right bike frame to the rules of cycling in a paceline, there are things that any serious cyclist should know. Covering kit, bike, group riding, technique and training, The Road Cyclist's Companion is a beautifully presented book that is an essential for anyone looking to step up their cycling ambitions.

The inspiring story of one man's record-breaking cycle around the world. On Monday 18th September 2017, Mark Beaumont pedalled through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes earlier he set off from the same point, beginning his attempt to circumnavigate the world in record time. Covering more than 18,000 miles and cycling through some of the harshest conditions one man and his bicycle can endure, Mark made history. He smashed two Guinness World Records and beat the previous record by an astonishing 45 days. Around the World in 80 Days is the story of Mark's amazing achievement - one which redefines the limits of human endurance. It is also an insight into the mind of an elite athlete and the physical limits of the human body, as well as a kaleidoscopic tour of the world from a very unique perspective; inspired by Jules Verne's classic adventure novel, Mark begins his journey in Paris and cycles through Europe, Russia, Mongolia and China. He then crosses Australia, rides up through New Zealand and across North America before the final 'sprint finish' thorough Portugal, Spain and France, all at over 200 miles a day. This is the story of a quite remarkable adventure, by a quite remarkable man.

Bicycling Through Paradise is a collection of twenty historically themed cycling tours broken into 10-mile segments centered around Cincinnati, Ohio. Written by two longtime cyclists-one a professor of history and one an architect-the book is an affectionate, intimate, and provocative reading of the local landscape and history from the perspectives of cycling and Cincinnati enthusiasts. Tours, navigated by Smythe and Hanlon, take cyclers past Native American sites, early settler homesteads, and locations made know through recent Ohio change-makers as navigated by the authors. With extensive details on routes and sites along the way, tours between 20 and 80 miles in length are designed for all levels of cyclists, and even the armchair explorer. Riders and readers will visit towns called Edenton, Loveland, Felicity, and Utopia. Along the journey, they'll encounter an abandoned Shaker village near the Whitewater Forest and a tiny dairy house called "Harmony Hill," the oldest standing structure in Clermont County, Ohio. They'll also take in the view from the top of a 2,000-year-old, 75-foot tall, conical Indian mound at Miamisburg. Riders can follow the Little Miami Scenic Trail and take a detour to a castle on the banks of the Little Miami River. Other sights include a full-scale replica of the tomb of Jesus in Northern Kentucky and the small pleasures of public parks, covered bridges, tree-lined streets, riverside travel, and one-room schoolhouses. And if all this isn't exactly Paradise, well, it's pretty close.

Few champions have astonished the world as much as Lance Armstrong. A cancer survivor who went on to win the Tour de France an unprecedented seven times, he is an inspiration to millions. Now the full story can be told. With complete access to Armstrong, and to his inner circle, and drawing on interviews with family members and training partners, coaches and celebrities, team-mates and rivals, friends and foes, sportswriter John Wilcockson tells of those who helped Armstrong along the way - including his mother Linda, his ex-wife Kristin and one-time fiancee Sheryl Crow - and explores the traits of character that made Armstrong unique. The story of Lance Armstrong is one of brutal, painful effort, of natural brilliance, of relentless ambition, of extraordinary glory. His achievement is all the more stunning for its unconventionality: a boy from small-town America who beat the world. Brash and fiercely competitive, Armstrong has never been without close friends or bitter enemies. His achievements have been dogged by accusations of doping, accusations of secrecy, and by questions about how triumph on such a grand scale could be possible - questions that are addressed head on in LANCE ARMSTRONG. Tracing the highs and lows, and bringing alive the drama of the races in which Armstrong smashed expectations time after time, LANCE ARMSTRONG gives the complete story of a matchless champion.

Join Ned Boulting as he reports on his dozen-th Tour de France, an event in which blokes do amazing things on bikes, and, we're oft told, the biggest annual sporting event in the world. 101 Damnations is a chance to relive the 2014 race, stage for stage, fall after fall, tantrum by tantrum; just the good bits mind, without all the aerial shots of castles. Or sunflowers. (Though it does wax lyrical about some stunning Alpine scenery . . . and, with the race starting in Yorkshire, even some stunning scenery not far from Bradford). From Leeds to Paris (how often do you say that?), Ned details the minutiae of his encounters with the likes of Vincenzo Nibali, David Millar, Chris Froome, Chris Boardman (or 'Broadman' as some would have it), Marcel Kittel, Mrs Cavendish (Mark's wife), Peter Sagan and the rest. Their endeavours, achievements, humour and occasional rancour, sit alongside his own decade-long quest for the ideal end-of-race T-shirt. Ned weaves together the interesting, amusing and unheralded threads of the race itself, and reflects on his own perennial struggle to get round, get on and get by. 101 Damnations encapsulates all that is incredible - and incredibly ordinary - about the greatest race on earth.

Ultimate Cycling Trips: World features 35 handpicked destinations for the best slow travel on two wheels. Including detailed descriptions, suggested itineraries, maps, photos and even interviews with world cyclists, Ultimate Cycling Trips: World is the perfect guide for planning your own cycling adventure. There are trips to suit every fitness level, from riding through the Italian and French Riviera, to Canada's wildlife-rich Icefields Parkway, and the volcanic island of Jeju off the southern tip of South Korea. As we grow more anxious about our planet, author Andrew Bain offers cycling trips as one way to minimise our environmental impact while on holiday. If that wasn't enough, there are also the added benefits of improving your fitness and becoming more immersed in your surroundings. Now has never been a better time to see the world by bike, with Ultimate Cycling Trips: World.

"The holy grail for disillusioned cycling fans . . . The book's power is in the collective details, all strung together in a story that is told with such clear-eyed conviction that you never doubt its veracity. . . . "The Secret Race" isn't just a game changer for the Lance Armstrong myth. It's the game ender."--"Outside"
"NEW YORK TIMES "BESTSELLER - WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
"The Secret Race" is the book that rocked the world of professional cycling--and exposed, at long last, the doping culture surrounding the sport and its most iconic rider, Lance Armstrong. Former Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton was once one of the world's top-ranked cyclists--and a member of Lance Armstrong's inner circle. Over the course of two years, "New York Times" bestselling author Daniel Coyle conducted more than two hundred hours of interviews with Hamilton and spoke with numerous teammates, rivals, and friends. The result is an explosive page-turner of a book that takes us deep inside a shadowy, fascinating, and surreal world of unscrupulous doctors, anything-goes team directors, and athletes so relentlessly driven to win that they would do almost anything to gain an edge. For the first time, Hamilton recounts his own battle with depression and tells the story of his complicated relationship with Lance Armstrong. This edition features a new Afterword, in which the authors reflect on the developments within the sport, and involving Armstrong, over the past year. "The Secret Race" is a courageous, groundbreaking act of witness from a man who is as determined to reveal the hard truth about his sport as he once was to win the Tour de France.
With a new Afterword by the authors
"Loaded with bombshells and revelations."--VeloNews
" An] often harrowing story . . . the broadest, most accessible look at cycling's drug problems to date."--"The New York Times"
" 'If I cheated, how did I get away with it?' That question, posed to "SI" by Lance Armstrong five years ago, has never been answered more definitively than it is in Tyler Hamilton's new book."--"Sports Illustrated"
"Explosive.""--The Daily Telegraph "(London)

The intimate biography of the charismatic Tour de France winner Marco Pantani, now updated to include the 2014 and 2015 investigation into Pantani's death. National Sporting Club Book of the Year Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 'An exhaustively detailed and beautiful book . . . a fitting, ambivalent tribute - to the man, and to the dark heart of the sport he loved' Independent On Valentine's day 2004, Marco Pantani was found dead in a cheap hotel. It defied belief: Pantani, having won the rare double of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in 1998, was regarded as the only cyclist capable of challenging Lance Armstrong's dominance. Only later did it emerge that Pantani had been addicted to cocaine since 1999. Drawing on his personal encounters with Pantani, as well as exclusive access to his psychoanalysts, and interviews with his family and friends, Matt Rendell has produced the definitive account of an iconic sporting figure.

Freedom rider is an adventure in extreme endurance sport, as well as an inquiry into the unique story of our fascinating country. When journalist Kevin Davie started riding his mountain bike in remote, wide-open South African spaces he found himself on a 10 000 km journey that tested his courage and determination through blizzards, lightning and hail storms as well as forty degree heat, forging new trails through rocky and mountainous terrain. On his journey, Kevin completed the Freedom Challenge, the Spine (the Drakensberg from end to end), the Ride to Rhodes and the Ganna (Beitbridge to Cape Town). This is riding minimalism, the rider carrying all his requirements without any back-up vehicle. Two of the longest rides, 5 000 kms in all, are ridden solo. This is his story - why athletes push themselves to rise to the challenge of extreme sport - as well as an account of the country and the incredible warmth and support from locals who reach out to help in so many ways.